The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by a staggering 10.263 million barrels in the week ending March 27. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories rose by 2.3 million barrels. Analysts had expected a draw of 1.3 million barrels in the current reporting period. Inventories in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) drew down for the first week in many, sinking by 300,000 barrels to 415.1 million barrels as of the week ending March 27. This is 310.4 million barrels shy of maximum…

Tech giants Microsoft and NVIDIA are collaborating on an artificial intelligence project designed to accelerate the development of nuclear energy – in order to feed the growing energy needs of AI. The project aims to develop an “ecosystem of AI-powered digital engineering tools” that will be used to shorten the considerable timelines of nuclear power plants and bring them online a lot more quickly as the rate of energy demand growth continues to skyrocket around the world. The nuclear power sector in the United States is beset…

Guyana, once among South America's most impoverished nations, is experiencing an epic oil boom. In a mere four years, the country of less than one million went from first discovery to first oil and is now lifting over 900,000 barrels per day. There are signs of significant production growth ahead. This is occurring at a crucial time for a world experiencing an energy crisis after oil spiked to well-over $110 per barrel after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. Guyana's oil boom is significantly reducing…

China’s leading international broadcaster, CGTN, aired an interview March 24 with Turkmenistan’s paramount leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, touting how “mutual trust and centuries-old exchanges” shape present-day bilateral relations. But such messaging struck a discordant note during the actual interview, when Berdymukhamedov’s figures for his country’s natural gas exports to China proved significantly different than those subsequently proffered by Chinese officials. During the interview, taped while the Turkmen…

Iran has assured Malaysia that Malaysian tankers can safely transit the Strait of Hormuz without paying a toll that the Islamic Republic wants to exact from shippers, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Tuesday. “The Iranian ambassador has mentioned that no toll is being imposed on Malaysian vessels,” Loke said today, as quoted by Bloomberg. “We are a friendly party, we have good diplomatic relationship with the Iranian government,” the Malaysian minister added. Iran has selectively allowed a small number of…

Iran has assured Malaysia that Malaysian tankers can safely transit the Strait of Hormuz without paying a toll that the Islamic Republic wants to exact from shippers, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Tuesday. “The Iranian ambassador has mentioned that no toll is being imposed on Malaysian vessels,” Loke said today, as quoted by Bloomberg. “We are a friendly party, we have good diplomatic relationship with the Iranian government,” the Malaysian minister added. Iran has selectively allowed a small number of…

The world economy is heading for a “rare” recession in the middle of this year as a prolonged war seems likely amid the prospect of US troops heading to the Middle East.  Economists have warned that activity will fall in the middle of the year if oil prices surge to $150 per barrel and remain there for a period of four months.  Oil prices continued to climb higher on Monday as the Brent Crude benchmark raced past the $116 per barrel mark amid mixed messages between the US, Israel and Iran on the state of the war.  It…